Celia Hart and Jorge Martin speak to a packed meeting in Montreal

On May 28th, close to 200 people attended a very successful
conference on Cuba and Venezuela, entitled "Cuba
after Fidel, Venezuela at the Crossroads." Hands
off Venezuela Montreal and the Bolivarian Society of Quebec, in collaboration
with the International Marxist Tendency and Gauche Socialiste, organized the
event.

On May 28th, close to 200 people attended a very successful
conference on Cuba and Venezuela, entitled "Cuba
after Fidel, Venezuela at the Crossroads." Hands
off Venezuela Montreal and the Bolivarian Society of Quebec, in collaboration
with the International Marxist Tendency and Gauche Socialiste, organized the
event.

Invited to speak were Celia Hart, Cuban Trotskyist,
scientist, lecturer, and author; Jorge Martin, international secretary of Hands
Off Venezuela; and Pierre Mouterde, Québec Solidaire member and author of works
on Latin American and Quebec social movements.

Notably among those attending were the Consul General of
Cuba Sergio Vélez Camhi, Venezuelan Consul General Elio Vitriago, Venezuelan
First Consul Adolfo Figueroa, and Bolivian Consul General Walter Estenssoro, as
well as Amir Khadir, co-spokeperson of the left-wing party, Québec Solidaire.

This was the first major event in Montreal
since Fidel's illness, discussing the political and social implications of what
is currently happening in Cuba.
Celia Hart led the discussion, as she is an active participant in the Cuban
Revolution. In her presentation, Hart highlighted the fact that the Cuban and
Venezuelan revolutions were mutually dependent and fed on each other, their
relationship was different than the one that existed between the Soviet Union and its satellites. For instance, Cuba sends doctors to Venezuela
while Venezuela provides Cuba with
inexpensive oil, and a revolutionary spirit is shared between both countries.
Cubans bring lessons of their revolution to Venezuela and vice versa.

Celia Hart

As the Cuban and Venezuelan revolutions are interlinked, the
perspective put forward by Jorge Martin was crucial for this discussion to be
complete. Despite the enormous gains made by the Venezuelan revolution, Jorge
Martin emphasized that the revolution is still in danger. Recently, the US Navy
has reformed the 4th fleet (which was disbanded in 1951) which is going to be
patrolling the Caribbean and coasts of Latin America.
This is combined with a noisy campaign to add Venezuela
to the list of countries that the US accuses of "sponsoring or
harbouring" terrorists. Meanwhile, in Venezuela, the oligarchy uses their
control of key parts of the economy to organise a concerted campaign of
sabotage, particularly of the food distribution chain. Jorge Martín explained
how there is a bureaucracy within the Bolivarian movement which is standing in
the way of the completion of Venezuela's
revolution. Venezuela
is at a crossroads, and the only way to move forward is to nationalize the
economy, get rid of the capitalist state apparatus, and to set up a genuine
revolutionary party capable of resolutely carrying the revolution through to
its conclusion. "You cannot make half a revolution anymore than you can half
cross the street," Martin said. "If you remain in the middle, you'll be crushed
by oncoming traffic."

Also speaking was Pierre Mouterde who announced that Quebec
Solidaire would be sending a delegation to Ecuador
and Venezuela
to learn from the revolutionary movement in those countries.

Jorge Martin

After the speakers there was a lively debate with questions
ranging from the situation in Cuba,
to Colombia, Ecuador, May
68, etc. During the debate the meeting agreed with an ovation to send greetings
to the Cuban Five who are jailed in US prisons, and who have also read
Trotsky's books sent by the F Engels Foundation, as Celia explained.

The audience, a mixture of young students, veteran activists
and Latin American revolutionaries was clearly enthusiastic, not only about the
unfolding revolution in Latin America but
seeing that also as the prelude for revolutionary events worldwide.

The meeting ended with a round of applause for the
organisers and particularly for the excellent translation job done by Emerson
Xavier da Silva, from the SBQ.

The event has inspired closer collaboration between Hands Off Venezuela Montreal and the Bolivarian Society of Quebec. We look forward to future work toward common goals. We would also like to thank all these organizations for their supports: Alliance de la Fonction Publique du Canada-Quebec (AFPC-Quebec), QPIRG-Concordia, L'Association Générale étudiante du Cégep du Vieux Montréal (AGECVM), Association Facultaire Étudiante de Sciences Humaines de l'Université du Québec à Montréal (AFESH-UQAM).